A Place at the Table

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If you regularly connect with social media – Facebook, Instagram, etc. – you’ll notice that they are filled with political messages from one side or another. Many are harsh; some are just plain mean. And many are aimed at people out of the mainstream – minorities, immigrants, the homeless, the poor.

And they’re not coming from just one side of the issues that are generally categorized as Republican/Democrat or Liberal/Conservative. Many complaints against the “other side” that I’ve seen are either downright false, exaggerated or unproven. They often talk about the other side being “outraged” or “unhinged,” sometimes with language not suitable for a blog such as this. It’s a classic case of the end justifying the means.

(I don’t want this blog to be viewed as “political,” but in the interest of truth, I believe our president is to a great extent responsible for this kind of language and vitriol. He’s providing the model for political language and action, making it seem right.)

Disappointing, Even Depressing?

For me – and I’m sure for many of you – such language is disappointing, even depressing. And it’s not just the language. The acidic political and social climate in the country is unlike anything I’ve seen.

So, what should be the attitude of people searching for God in this atmosphere of name-calling and self-permission to demonize others, their preferences and beliefs?

A few years ago, the phrase “What would Jesus do?’ was popular but seems to have been abandoned. Like most of Jesus’ message, it may have been too countercultural. But I think it has a lot of merit for people trying to make moral and ethical decisions in the Christian tradition.

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The New Testament, as in the famous passage about love in Chapter 13 of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, provides a lot of guidance. (“Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful….”) But many of the moral dilemmas in which we find ourselves today are not directly addressed in the Bible, so we have to try to project their teachings onto modernity.

So, where will you find a source for that? In my opinion, "the church." People who have no church affiliation are at a disadvantage in this area because the church, according to the New Testament, is guided by the Holy Spirit.

In my case as a Catholic, the church is the teaching of the popes, the church councils, the bishops’ conferences and homilies at Mass.

I’m just finishing reading “Lazarus at the Table, Catholics and Social Justice” by Bernard F. Evans. It’s a compendium of the church’s view on social justice, using the sources mentioned above. The title is based on the famous New Testament story about “Lazarus and the Rich Man,” in which the poor man, Lazarus - sick and hungry - lay at the rich man’s door longing for the scraps that fall from the rich man’s table. They both die and Lazarus is “carried to the bosom of Abraham” while the rich man is tormented in Hades.

"They Have Moses and the Prophets"

The rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus to the rich man’s brothers to warm them how they should live, but Abraham replies, “They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.”

No, replies the rich man, “if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” Abraham replies: “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”

The teaching of the Catholic Church, and of many Christian churches, on social justice – from abortion to immigration – is founded on the innate dignity of the human person based on our status as children of God. Details may still be debated, but in general, the church seeks to give Lazarus, representing all the poor and marginalized, a place at the table.  

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